Series 2: Projects, 1939-1970, inclusive; 1954-1970, bulk

Included here are papers related to Schiller's involvement, under the auspices of the "Emergency Committee Opposing the Mill Basin Incinerator," with the Mill Basin community's successful fight against various New York City governmental agencies to keep an incinerator, marine wast-transfer station, and Department of Sanitation garage from being built in the Mill Basin neighborhood. Also found here are Schiller's incoming and outgoing correspondence with various New York City and State elected officials, including State Senator William Rosenblatt, State Assemblyman Lawrence Murphy, and City Councilman Morris Stein and Sam Curtis, as well as community leaders from adjacent neighborhoods, including Charles Bugeja, chairman of Marine Park Civic Association, with whom further correspondence can be found in Subseries B. Also included are Schiller's own notes related to various meetings and events, minutes from community meetings, copies of petitions containing Mill Basin residents' signatures and addresses, as well as various captioned photographs of Mill Basin and the incinerator near Avenue J.

Supplemental material is in the last folder of the series, as well as in the first folder of photographs (Aerial Views of Mill Basin). Supplemental material consists of photocopies of articles from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which serve to contextualize the activities documented in this subseries, by showing evidence of earlier attempts to build an incinerator in Mill Basin, dating back to 1928. The photograph which was been added to the collection depicts an aerial view of Mill Basin with an area marked off in organe grease pencil and an arrow pointing to this area. The photo was removed to this collection from the folder "Incinerators" in BCMS.0002 (Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs).

This subseries documents Schiller's attempt on behalf of the Boy Scouts to convince the Board of Education to rescind the three dollar fee charged to youth groups using public school facilities in the evening as part of an umbrella group of community organizations called "Citizens Committee Opposed to Levies on Youth Groups Using Public School Facilities." It includes extensive correspondence with various members of local and national Boy Scout leaders can be found here. There is also correspondence with other organizations such as the Girl Scouts, Air Cadets, Catholic Youth Organization, and the Police Athletic League. Schiller makes explicit the link between juvenile deliquency and his cause: this subseries includes 1958-59 Board of Education budget which includes a budget for juvenile deliquency. There is also significant correspondence with city leaders in the mayor's office, New York City Board of Education, including the Association of Supervisors of Recreational & Community Activities in the Office of Continuing Education. Also included is the text of a speech Schiller delivered to the New York City Board of Estimate in 1969 when the city was threatening to close its Community School Centers.

Supplemental material can be found in the last folder. These materials are news clippings that contextualize Schiller's activities.

This subseries contains information about the naming of two parks in the Mill Basin neighborhood: Charles W. Boyce Square, named after the past president of the Mill Basin Civic Association from 1941-1963, and Captain Vincent Hickman Park, named after a Mill Basin resident who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1964. Included in this subseries is documentation related to getting local law passed to create and name the parks, as well as the parade and dedication ceremony that was held to commemorate opening of the parks. Extensive documentation in the form of letters, sketches and blueprints for plaques for the parks, Schiller's hand-drawn sketches of the parade line-up and route can also be found here, as well as the official "Proclamation of Mill Basin Dedication Day," a large ceremonial certificate, signed by Abe Stark. The parade and dedication ceremony, which took place on October 17, 1965, was attended by many community leaders, including then-Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark who gave the address at the Hickman Park dedication. Many RSVP letters from invitees to the dedication ceremony are included. A photograph of Boyce Square, prior to its being renovated to a park can also be found in this subseries. A folder of material from two John F. Kennedy memorial dedications, one of which involved Schiller, can be found in its own folder. From Schiller's correspondence it appears that he aspired that the dedication ceremony he planned for these two parks would live up to some of the aspects of the Kennedy Memorial ceremony he participated in and admired.

Supplemental material can be found in the final folder of the subseries.

This subseries contains newspaper clippings, minutes from community minutes, and pamphlets, many of which are related to the 1970 closure of Floyd Bennett Field, a United States military-owned airfield adjacent to Mill Basin, due to cutbacks in military expenditures. Many alternatives were proposed for the future use of Floyd Bennett Field, including a controversial proposal to build low-income housing, converting it to a commercial airport, or converting it to park land. The subseries also includes press releases from the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, pamphlets concerning Gateway National Park, and Schiller's own notes on how these various proposals would affect his community. There is also limited documentation about the proposal and building of Kings Plaza Shopping Center, Brooklyn's first shopping mall (and its related marina) and how this would affect the neighborhood, especially because of increased vehicular traffic.

Supplemental material is all located in the last folder of the subseries and consists of related newspaper clippings.